By Drew Johnson

Thursday, Apr 26th, 2012 @ 4:02 pm

The summer driving season is typically accompanied by higher prices at the pumps, but that might not be the case this year. Gas prices have steadily declined during the month of April, and that trend could continue for the foreseeable future.

At the beginning of April a barrel of Brent crude oil sold for about $125, but prices have declined to around $120 per barrel. Easing tensions with Iran and possible signs of a slowing global economy are expected to push prices even lower, meaning we might have already seen this season's highest gas prices.

"If we don't have any supply issues or refinery outages, we've seen the highs for the summer," Stephen Schork, publisher of the industry newsletter the Schork Report, told CNN Money.

According to AAA, the average cost of a gallon of gas is now $3.84, down from a yearly high of $3.95 in early April.

Of course lower prices aren't set in stone as some East Coast refineries have recently been forced to idle production due to their inability to refine anything but light, sweet crude - the most expensive of the oils. If those factories are forced to close their doors, it could put an upward pressure on gas prices.

"Unplanned refinery outages and a further improvement in the US economy could still create further upside risks to gasoline in May and June," Merrill Lynch analysts wrote in a statement.

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